The Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action—Fewer Black Physicians and More Health Disparities for Minoritized Groups

Rice et al discusses the US Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions, Inc v University of North Carolina. The case overturned nearly 50 years of the use of affirmative action in higher education to address the inequities of systematic racism in the US. The decision eliminates the consideration of race and ethnicity for admissions to colleges and universities and has the potential to significantly reduce the number of Black physicians and increase health inequity in underserved communities, some of which are health care deserts. The ruling by the Court is grounded in its opinion that the US Constitution is color-blind and that race- and ethnicity-based admissions programs are unconstitutional. The Court ignores hundreds of years of slavery, segregation, and other forms of discrimination that affected Black people and other minority groups, suggesting that students should be admitted to colleges based on their own merit, as measured through numeric parameters.